Car-door lock.



No. 893,243, PATENTED JULY 14. 190s.

' J. C. KINGSTON. GAR DooR LOCK.

I APPLIUATION FILI-2DV APR17, 190B.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

K Maes UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEroE.

JOHN C. KINGSTON, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

CAR-DOOR LOCK.

To all whom it may concern:

Be t known that I, JOHN C. KINGSTON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCar-Door Locks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in self-locking devices for closures, and more particularly for freight car-doors.

.One object of my invention is the produc-` tion of a simple, durable and eHective device of this character which is self-locking uponl closing the door and which isv adapted to be unlocked by a screw-key having a special form or pitch of thread adapted to engagea correspondingly threaded opening in the lock-latch and bear with its inner end against an abutment to compel the lock-latch to be noved out of locking engagement with the oor. A

Other objects are the rovision of a blindin serving to prevent isplacement of the ook-latch; to provide a lock-bar having lateral arms which serve to tie the two outermost pieces of the car-door together and to more efectively'guard against the lock-bar being torn from its seat under strain; to so construct the locking-device that in addition to its other functions it also serves to retain the door on the car and to otherwise improve on locking-devices for this purpose now 1n use.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the annexed claims. V

In the accompanying drawings,-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a freight-car equipped with my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectionv taken on line y-y, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar section showing the car-door opened slightly. Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of the yielding lock-latch or fastener.- Fig. 5 is a perspective View of the key. Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on line e-z, Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a portion of the car-door, showing the lock-bar and the manner of securing the same thereto. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a portion of the door-j amb, showing the guard and the blind-pin secured to said guard. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a portion of the car-wall showing the depresslon therein in which the locking-end of Specica'tion of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 17, 1908. Serial No. 427,639.

Patented July 14, 1908.

and 11 the door for closing said opening. The

car-door is preferably a sliding door and when closed it overlaps the marginal portion of the car-wall where 1t bounds said opening.

Secured to the Wall of the car and disposed horizontally on the outer side thereof is a lock-latch or fastener 12; the means of fastening the same being bolts 13 passing through one'end thereof and through the car wall and having their heads countersunk into said latch or fastener and their threaded ends extending into the car and provided with nuts 14. In this manner, the removal of the latch or fastener from the outside ofthe car is an impossibility. The other or free end of said latch or fastener terminates short of the door-,opening so that When the door is open, there will be no projecting parts likely to be damaged or broken when removing the contents of the car. or fastener is bent inward at a right-angle to the main-portion thereof to provide an abrupt locking-portion, as at 15, and it terminates in an outwardly inclined deflectorportion 16; said locking-portion and deflector-portion constituting a locking-member extending inward beyond the inner surface of the body or main portion of said latch or fastener. The wall of the car is provided with a depression 17 in rear of the locking-member of said latch or fastener and into this depression said member enters when the door is locked and also when said door is open and the key removed from the lock. Said latch or fastener is preferably of spring material so that it will always return to normal position,-its inner face bearing against the wall of the car-unless drawn outward by the key.

l18 designates the door-j amb against which the edge of the door bears, and it is secured to the Wall of the'car with bolts 19 having countersunk-heads on the outside and nuts 20 applied to the threaded ends thereof on the inside of the car. By thus fastening the door-j amb it cannot be removed except from the inside of the car or by destroying the same. Said j amb is grooved transversely on its inner side, as at 21, and covers the inter mediate portion of said lock-latch or fastener. Said groove is of sufficient depth to allow the latch or fastener the necessary range of movement for unlocking the door and it gradually diminishes in depth to that edge of the jamb adjacent the secured end of said latch or fastener so that the jamb bears against the same and relieves the bolts 13 of .a portion of the strain to which said latch or pose to appear hereinafter.

The lock-latch or fastener has an opening 24 at a point between its ends through which a pin 25 is passed which is fastened with its headed end in the jamb and has its other end entering a bore 26 in the wall of the car. rIhis pin acts as a preventive against the removal of the lock-latch or fastener even when, through connivance with employees or when in any other manner, the bolts 13 are removed from the inside of the car. The said pin 25 is preferably so secured that it is invisible from the outside of the car and therefore may well be termed a blind-pin. With this in view, the head of the pin is held between the door-J` amb and the plate 22 facing the groove on the inner side of said jamb. In this manner, removal of the pin can only be had by removing the door-j amb from the car and the plate 22 from said j amb, but since the latter cannot be removed eX- cept from the inside of the car or by destruction, the pin, if secured as described or in some other inaccessible manner, serves its purpose well.

Near the free end of the lock-latch or fastener, a threaded key-aperture 27 is formed and co-incident with said aperture I provide a key-hole 28 in the door-j amb. The thread of said key aperture is of special design or pitch so that an ordinary screw cannot be threaded into said aperture. In rear of said lock-latch or fastener an abutment 29 is provided which is in the form of a metallic plate secured to the outer side of the car-wall by means of screws 30.

The car-door 11 is provided with a notch 31 on its inner side and at its edge, the depth of which corresponds with the groove 21 on the inner side of the door-jamb so that when the door is closed against said jamb, the projecting portion of the metallic plate 22 enters the notch and thus guards against the insertion of a fiat tool or other instrument between the door and `iamb with a view of meddling with the lock-latch or fastener to unlock the same. Said notch also receives the bent locking-end of said latch or fastener, which latter has its abrupt locking-portion 15 engaging behind a lock-bar 32 bridging the notch at the edge of the door and secured to the latter by means of screws 33; said lock-bar being, of course, on the inner side of the door so that it cannot be tampered with. As it is customary to construct car-doors and the walls of the ears of matched boards, strain applied to the lockbar when the door is locked, would tend to draw the board at the edge of the door out of match with the adjacent board, and for this reason I deem it desirable to distribute this strain over two boards of the door. rl`he lock-bar 32 is therefore equipped with two lateral arms 34 which are of a length to rest upon the second board of the door and. are screwed to said two boards, thus preventing the edge board being drawn away from said second board. If desired, said. lateral arms may be made of a length to extend over three or more boards of the door, or a single arm may be employed. in lieu of two arms.

vWhen the door is open, the lock-latch or fastener lies against the side wall of the car with its bent end or locking-member in the depression 17. N ow, upon closing the door, the lock-bar 32 thereof engages the dellectorportion 16 and causes the lock-latch or fastener to yield outwardly to allow said lockbar to move behind the abrupt lockingportion 15 of said latch or fastener, thus locking the door.

In order to unlock the door, a screw-bar 3 5 having a specially designed thread or a thread of special pitch is provided which corresponds with the thread in the keyaperture of the lock-latch or fastener, said bar serving as a key and having a suitable handle to manipulate the same. Said key is thrust through the key-hole in the jamb and threaded into and through the threaded key-aperture in said latch or fastener. When the inner end of the key strikes the abutment 29, the further turning of said key causes the loclelatch or fastener to be drawn outward so as to disengage the lockingmember of the latter from the lock-bar on the door, after which the latter may be opened. The door may again be closed be fore or after removal of the key. If closed before the key is removed, the lock-bar thereon is positioned for proper engagement with the lock-latch or fastener and upon unscrewing the key, said lock or fastener will return to normal position with the lockingmember engaging behind the lock-bar. If the key is remoyed before the door is closed, the lock-latch or fastener will be actuated automatically, as hereinbefore deserilwd, upon closing the door.

The laws of some States require the cars to be sealed, and for this purpose, seal-posts 36, 37, are secured to the door and the doorjamb, respectively, and connecting said posts is a seal 38, which may be of any approved construction and which also serves to cover the key-hole in the door-j amb.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is,-

. 1. Thev combination with a car having a door-opening, and a door for closing said opening and provided with a lock-bar, of a yielding fastener secured to the wall of the car and having a locking-portion engaging said lock-bar and a threaded aperture, a housing partly inclosing said fastener and having a key-hole registering with j said threaded aperture, and a screw-key adapted to be passed through said key-hole and be threaded through said aperture j to abut against the wall of the car.

2, The combination with a car having a door-opening anda door-for closing said o ening; of a yielding fastener on the wall .of

t e car, cooperating means on the door engaged bysaid fastener to lock the door, a

housing partly inclosing said fastener, a

blind-pin carried by said housing and pass'- ing through said fastener and entering the wall of the car, and means 'for disengaging the fastener from its coperating-means on said door. l 4

3. The combination with an object having an opening and a closurefor closing said opening, a fastener secured at one -end to said object and having its other end terminating adjacent said opening and bent at an angle to form a locking member, said fastener having also a threaded aperture, a housing covering a portion of said fastener, a lock-bar on said closure, and a key having screw-threads and being adapted to be threaded through said threaded aperture and abut with its end against an' abutment behind said aperture.

4. The combination with a car having a door-opening, a depression in its wall adj acent said opening anda door for closing said opening, of a yielding fastener extending from said opening inward and having its inner end secured to the wall of thecar and its outer end bent inward at a right-angle and finally outward at an acute angle to said right-angled portion to form a locking-member entering said depression and engaging said door to lock the same, said fastener hav- .ing also a threaded aperture at a point between its ends, a door-jamb covering said fastener and having `a key-opening co-incident with the threaded aperture in said fas'- tener, and a keyhaving screw-threads and being adapted to be threaded through said threaded aperture'and abut against the wall of the car at a point behind said aperture.

5. The combination with a car -having a door-opening and a depression in its wall adjacent said opening, and a door for closing said opening having a lock-bar, of a yielding fastener having one end thereof securedl to jacent said opening, anda door for closingl said opening aving a lock-bar, of a yielding fastener having one end thereof secured to the outer side of the wall of the car and its other orfree end bent inward at a right-angle to form a locking-portion adapted for engagement with the lock-bar on said door and thence bent outward at an acute angle to said inwardly-bent portion to form a deflector-portion adapted to strike said lockbar when closing said door and cause automatic deiiection of said fastener to permit said locking-portion to engage said lock-bar, and means for manually deflecting said' fastener to cause the same to be disengaged from said lock-bar.

7. The combination with a car having a door-opening, and a door for closing said opening and having a notch in its edge on the inner side thereof, of a fastener secured to the wall of the car, a lock-bar on the cardoor bridging said notchand provided with lateral arms extending inward on the door, and means for securing said lock-barand its arms to the door.

8. The combination with a car having an opening, ofa door-j amb secured to the wall of the car adjacent said opening and having a transverse groove on its inner sidejand a key-hole, `a metallic plate secured to the inner wall of said roove, a yielding fastener secured to the wal of the car and extending through said groove, said fastener being provided beneath said door-j amb with a threaded aperture and a pin-hole and also means for ,locking engagement with said door, a pin secured to theinner wall of its groove, and a key for causin said fastener to be disengaged from sai door. j

9L The combination with a car having a door-opening and a door for closing said opening provided with a notch on its inner side at the edge thereof, of a lock-bar bridging said notch, a door-jamb having a groove on its inner side, a metallic plate secured to the inner wall of said groove and extending into the notch in said door when the latter is closed, a yielding fastener secured at one end to the wall of the car and extending through said groove with its free end adapted to enter said notch in the door and lock behind said tener from said lock-bar.

10. The combination with a car having a between its ends, a metallic abutment in rear door-opening and a door for closing said l of said aperture, ahousmg covering atleast a opening, of a yielding fastener secured at one end to the Wall of the car and adapted to lock said door, a housing covering at least a part of said fastener, a blind-pin Within said housing rigidly held and passing through said fastener, and a key for manipulating said fastener.

l1. The combination With a car havinga door-opening and a door for closing said opening, of a yielding fastener secured at one end to the Wall of the car and adapted for locking engagement at its other end with said door and having also a threaded aperture part of said fastener and having a key-hole in registration with said threaded aperture, and a key formed of a threaded bar adapted to be passed through said key-hole and be threaded through said threaded aperture so as to bear with its end against said abutment.

ln testimony whereof, I have allixed my signature in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN C. KINGSTON. Witnesses:

ELLA C. PLUECKnAnN, HARRY D. Rari. 

